Self adjusting welt guide



March 24, 1959 J. A. RUBICO 2,378,762

ADJUSTING WELT GUIDE Filed Feb. 19, 1957 I INVENTOR. fla a AT TORNE YS States Patent SELF ADJUSTING WELT GUIDE Jerome A. Rubico, Boston, Mass., assignor to Batchelder lilllbiitt), Inc., Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massac use s Application February 19, 1957, Serial No. 641,189

4 Claims. (Cl. 112-52) This invention comprises a new and improved welt guide for directing a strip of welting to the sewing point of a welt sewing machine. It has the outstanding characteristic that it automatically adjusts itself to handle welts of all dilferent widths that may come to the welt sewer as well as accommodating itself to variations in width or contour that may occur in the same piece of welting.

Welt guides have heretofore been available having provision for certain adjustments that may be effected but only if the operator appreciates the necessity therefor and takes the pains to make them. This condition has resulted in many rejects on account of loose or improperly located inseams. The guide of the present invention disposes of these difficulties and insures proper presentation of the welting to the lasted shoe bottom, handling welting of various cross-sectional dimensions without requiring any special skill or attention on the part of the operator. The improved guide also operates to follow up all variations in width that may occur in the same length of welting.

The welt guide of this invention is also particularly advantageous in handling beaded or storm welting which frequently vary widely in cross-sectional contour and are likely to be inaccurately presented to the shoe bottom by welt guides requiring manual adjustment.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figs. 1 and 2 are views in elevation of the guide as seen from opposite sides,

Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a view in cross-section on the line 4 --4 of Fig. 3.

The guide is herein shown as mounted upon an arm which is part of a well known welt sewing machine and includes a socket for a bracket having an outer flange 11, an inner flange and a web 12 forming a guideway as shown in Fig. 4. The stem of this bracket is adjustably received and clamped within the socket of the arm 10. The guide includes a tubular welt shield 13 having upstanding side arms 14 and 15 which give the shield a U-shaped shank enclosing the web 12 of the bracket. The tubular portion of the shield extends rearwardly and provides a passage which encloses the welting as it approaches the sewing point. The side arms of the shield and the web 12 of the bracket are perforated to receive a clamping bolt 16.

2,878,762 Patented Mar. 24, 1959 tubular shield 13. The slot of the stem 17 provides clearance for the clamping bolt 16 and a tension spring 20 secured to the top flange 18 tends always to move the back gauge downwardly as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, holding the gauge foot 19 yieldingly in contact with the outer edge of the welting 22 as shown in Fig. 3.

An angle spacing piece 21 is inserted in the slot of the stem between the side arm 14 of the welt shield and the web 12 of the bracket. This angle piece is slightly thicker than the stem 17 and so provides sliding clearance for the stem 17 when the clamping bolt 16 is tightened. It also has a perforated flange at its upper end to which the lower end of the spring 20 is attached. The gauge foot 19 extends in the opposite direction from the tubular shield and engages the outer edge of the welting opposite the sewing point and as the welt passes therefrom. In Fig. 3 the needle 23 is shown as passing through the base of the flange of the welt 22 which is of the beaded type and it will be seen that at this point the gauge foot 19 operates continuously and yieldingly to hold the inner face of the welting against the shield 13 and in proper position for presentation to the lasted shoe bottom. The gauge foot 19 is flanged as shown in Fig. 3 so that it fits the outer edge of the welt 22 and overlaps its upper face to a slight degree.

While the welt guide has been described in its application to Goodyear welt sewing, it is of course useful in handling welting as employed in the so-called American or McKay welt shoes.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a preferred embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A self adjusting welt guide comprising a flanged bracket, a slotted back gauge in sliding engagement with said bracket and having a welt-engaging wing at its outer end, a cylindrical welt shield having side arms enclosing both the slotted back gauge and said bracket, an angle piece clamped between said side arms and acting as a spacer between them to insure free sliding of the back gauge, and a spring connected to the back gauge and to said angle piece.

2. A self adjusting welt guide comprising a flanged bracket providing a guideway, a back gauge having a slotted stem slidable therein, a U-shaped welt shield having arms enclosing the stem of the back gauge in said guideway, and a spacer clamped to the bracket in stationary position between the arms of said shield and having clearance within the slot of the back gauge permitting free movement of the latter, and a spring tensioned between the spacer and back gauge.

3. In a welt guide having a tubular Welt shield with U-shaped shank, a self adjusting back gauge having an elongated slotted stem movable within the shank of the shield, a stationary spacing member clamped between the sides of the U-shaped shank and located with clearance within the slot of said stem, a welt-engaging wing carried by the stem of the back gauge, and spring means for moving the back gauge bodily to hold it against the l terjedge' of a welt strip. passing through the said tubular shield. g

4. A self adjusting welt guide comprising a bracket having a guideway therein, a tubular welt shield having spaced side arms extending upwardly on opposite sides of the bracket, a bolt clamping said arms to the bracket, a back gauge having a stem slidable in the guideway of the bracket and bifurcated to straddle said clamping bolt, and spring means engaging the stem of the back gauge and urging it at all times to engage one edge of a welt 10 strip passing through the said tubular shield.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Bea Feb. 27, 1883 Dow Apr. 28, 1914 Kucera Aug. 13, 1935 Fredericksen May 30, 1950 David Sept. 4, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Apr. 18, 1942 

